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Origin and history of where

where(adv. conj.)

"at or in any place, anywhere," Middle English wher, from Old English hwær, hwar "at or in what place," from Proto-Germanic adverb *hwar (source also of Old Saxon hwar, Old Norse hvar, Old Frisian hwer, Middle Dutch waer, Old High German hwar, German wo, Gothic hvar "where"), equivalent to Latin cur, from PIE root *kwo-, stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.

Where it's at attested from 1903 as "true or essential nature;" by 1968 as "place of central activity."

It has figured in a great many prepositional and adverbial compounds through the years; in addition to the entries given (whereas, wherefore, whereabouts, etc.) English has or had whereagainst, wherehence, whereinsoever, whereinto, wheremid, whereout, whereover, wheresoever, whereunder, and whereuntil, wherewhile.

Entries linking to where

whereabouts(adv.)

late 14c., wher-aboutes, "at what business," early 15c., from where (in the extended sense of "concerning which") + about, with adverbial genitive -s.

The noun meaning "place where someone or something is," is recorded from 1795, probably from whereabout (adv.). Whereabout in the sense of "one's present place" is from c. 1600.

whereas(adv., conj.)

mid-14c., wher-as, "wherein, in which;" early 15c. as a conjunction, "in consideration of the fact that, considering that things are so;" also "while on the contrary, when in fact;" from where (in the sense of "in which position or circumstances") + as. Specifically in law by early 15c., "inasmuch as, it being the case that, things being so that."

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nowhere
"not in any situation or state; in no place," Old English nahwær "nowhere, not at all;" see no + where. Colloquial nowheres, with adverbial genitive, is by 1803. As a noun, "non-existent place," 1831; "remote or inaccessible place," 1908. Hence such phrases as middle of nowhere (
ubi
"place, location, position," 1610s, common in English c. 1640-1740, from Latin ubi "where?...relative pronominal adverb of place, ultimately from PIE *kwo-bhi- (source also of Sanskrit kuha, Old Church Slavonic kude "where...Ubi sunt, literally "where are" (1914), in reference to lamentations for the mutability of things is from a phrase used in...
mint
place where money is coined, early 15c., from Old English mynet "coin, coinage, money" (8c.), from West Germanic *munita...An earlier word for "place where money is coined" was minter (early 12c.)....Mint-mark, "mark placed upon a coin to indicate the mint where it was struck," is from 1797....
Lennon
A recurring visual feature of the [Hong Kong] protests has been the so-called Lennon Walls, where people have posted hundreds...Their name comes from a wall in Prague where tributes to John Lennon appeared after the former Beatle’s killing in 1980....It evolved into a place where young Czechs expressed support for democracy and aired grievances against the Communist regime...
scapulimancy
With haruspication may be classed the art of divining by bones, as where North American Indians would put in the fire a certain...This is especially found in vogue in Tartary, where it is ancient, and whence it may have spread into all other countries...where we hear of it....
bar
was popularly assumed to mean the bar in a courtroom, the wooden railing marking off the area around the judge's seat, where...prisoners stood for arraignment and where a barrister (q.v.) stood to plead....As the place where the business of court was done, bar in this sense had become synonymous with court by early 14c....
twain
The word outlasted the breakdown of gender in Middle English and survived as a secondary form of two, especially in cases where...Its continuation into modern times was aided by its use in KJV and the Marriage Service, in poetry (where it is a useful...rhyme word), and in oral use where it is necessary to be clear that two and not to or too is meant....
dyslexia
"a difficulty in reading due to a condition of the brain," 1885, from German dyslexie (1883), from Greek dys- "bad, abnormal, difficult" (see dys-) + lexis "word" (taken as "reading"), from legein "speak" (from PIE root *leg- (1) "to collect, gather," with derivatives meaning "to
nurse
c. 1200, norice, nurrice, "wet-nurse, woman who nourishes or suckles an infant; foster-mother to a young child," from Old French norrice "foster-mother, wet-nurse, nanny" (source of proper name Norris), from Late Latin *nutricia "nurse, governess, tutoress," noun use of fem. of L
holy
Old English halig "holy, consecrated, sacred; godly; ecclesiastical," from Proto-Germanic *hailaga- (source also of Old Norse heilagr, Danish hellig, Old Frisian helich "holy," Old Saxon helag, Middle Dutch helich, Old High German heilag, German heilig, Gothic hailags "holy"), fr

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